Age: 24
Position: Centre Midfielder
Apps 04/05: 44 (6)
Season Highlight: Bouncing back from a nightmare start to turn in excellent FA Cup displays against Swindon and Middlesborough.
Season Lowlight: Being abused by his own supporters in the 5-1 thrashing at Rushden & Diamonds.
After signing in the summer from Peterborough United, Matt Gill got more than he bargained for when he penned a two-year deal at Notts County in a search for regular first-team football.
Despite Gill making an almighty 50 senior appearences, it is not a season that will be looked back on too fondly by the midfielder, despite a great improvement in the second half of the campaign.
Like many of Mills' summer signings, the 24-year-old came with decent lower-league pedigree. He immediately showed signs of a good attitude by willingly dropping a league, despite having a year left on his deal at the Posh and making 30 starts the season prior for the side he joined as a trainee seven years ago.
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However, a terrible start in League Two by Mills' new-look side was personified by Gill. Despite catching the eye with his Andy Legg-like long throw, there didn't appear to be much else to the midfielder's game.
Despite good performances in the away-day wins at Bradford City and Lincoln, Gill was in the process of enduring a nightmare start to his Magpies' career, a fact not lost on the frustrated County support.
Stefan Oakes' groin injury in pre-season had meant that Gill was paired in midfield with Paul Bolland, meaning there was precious little creativity coming from the Magpies' engine-room, a fact that was largely blamed on Notts' early-season failures.
Gill was particularly struggling in home games and was eventually dropped by Mills in the home defeat against Southend, though his performance when he did come off the bench did nothing to suggest that his manager was wrong.
Confidence was low, with the midfielder frequently gaining the dubious honour of a 4 out of 10 in NCM's match ratings.
Mills' solution to the problem, though, was not to do his player much good. The increasingly under-fire boss opted to give Gill the captain's armband for the visit of Leyton Orient in early-October.
Whilst it may have been an act designed to show faith in the Cambridge-born player, all it succeded in was making Gill the focal-point of the fans' attacks - both on the terraces and on the NCM messageboard - for their team's bad performance.
They were right. Gill had done nothing to warrant the captaincy, but in hindsight it was harsh on the player to be blamed for an act of bad management.
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For all the question marks over Mills' decision, few were raised by supporters over the decision to list Gill.
The former Peterboro' man was an unused substitute for the club's next two games, but he would return to the starting line-up to disasterous consequences for the trip to Rushden & Diamonds.
Named as a makeshift right back in-place of Pipe, Gill was ruthlessly exposed as the Magpies were slaughtered 5-1. And whilst Mills was the source of much of the fans' anger, the derision levelled at Gill by the travelling support is amongst the worst seen for a post-war Notts County player.
When substituted, Gill responded to the ironic cheers by delivering a crude gesture towards his own supporters. There seemed to be no way back.
However, Mills was then replaced by the popular Ian Richardson and things steadilly improved, both for Gill and his team-mates. Richardson's first act was to take the three out-casts off the list, stating togetherness in the camp was key.
Gill, though, still had some way to go. Used as a substitute in Richardson's opening game at home to Shrewsbury, the midfielder was booed by a large section of the home support.
He would have to wait another four games before he broke back into the side, with a suspension to Bolland handing him his chance in the FA Cup Second Round clash at Swindon.
The 24-year-old went on to keep his place for the remainder of the season, after a hard-working display drew special praise from his new manager.
And after an outstanding performance in the televised replay against Swindon, Gill appeared a reformed character. Tigerish in the tackle and efficent with his passing, he was becoming a key part in Richardson's new-look 3-5-2 team.
The FA Cup was proving to be somewhat of a happy hunting ground for the midfielder, as he produced his best display of the season at home to Premiership Middlesborough - clearing no less then THREE goal-bound efforts off the line.
It was hard to believe he was the same player who'd been so ineffective in those early season months.
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His season though, was to eventually fade out. Unfortunately, Gill - while not scaling the depths he plunged to earlier in the campaign - was to produce a series of fairly anonymous showings that would again bring questions of his value to the team into play.
So, after one season in Notts County colours the jury is still very much out on young Matthew.
Hopefully, under new boss Gudjon Thordarson, he can show the County support what he is really all about. Is he good enough? We still don't know.
Season Rating (out of 10): 5